Oil giant Shell will slash a further 2200 jobs from its global workforce as it expects the oil price to remain "lower for longer".
The Anglo-Dutch company said the move would bring the total number of staff and direct contractor roles being cut from the company from the start of 2015 to the end of this year to 12,500, up from its previous target of 10,300.
But it said the net number of job losses in 2016 would be fewer than 5000, as it expects to continue recruiting this year.
The company, which sealed a mega-merger with BG Group in February, said the cost-cutting drive will include the loss of about 475 jobs at its UK and Ireland "upstream business".
Paul Goodfellow, Shell's vice president for the UK and Ireland, said it had taken the steps because the current market conditions remained "challenging".
He said: "Our integration with BG provides an opportunity to accelerate our performance in this 'lower for longer' environment. We need to reduce our cost base, improve production efficiency and have an organisation that best fits our combined portfolio and business plans.
"As a result, we will reduce the size of the organisation supporting our UK and Ireland upstream business by around 475 people. We will look to implement the majority of this change during 2016."
He added: "These are tough times for our industry and we have to take further difficult decisions to ensure Shell remains competitive through the current, prolonged downturn."
